Anyone here up to speed on various Belgian proof marks? I've looked at all the various resources on the web and I remain confused. I was looking at a friends gun, Francotte, and we were trying to deduce when it was made using the charts here;
http://damascus-barrels.com/Belgian_All_Proofmarks.html
What's confusing is there a couple indications according to the chart that it was made prior to 1924, diamond with Gauge number inside (mark 24 in the attached link), and the choke configuration is listed as in mark 28, which also indicates 1910-1924. But- there is an S with a * above it which indicates it was proofed after 1952 according to the controller of proof codes. I don't see a letter anywhere else that indicates an earlier proof. I didn't see anything that correlates to a date code as listed in that chart. Confusing to me. Any Belgian experts here? Unfortunately I do not have pictures.
Francottes seem like pretty nice guns. At some point I need to find a nice lightweight gun for my wife. Seems like you can get some pretty nice sub-gauge francottes for short money compared to a Parker or a smith.
belgian proof marks
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